


Amongst Remnants

by egregarious



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bumbleby - Freeform, Canon Compliant, F/F, Light Angst, Short, wow i made myself kind of sad writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 22:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13556733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egregarious/pseuds/egregarious
Summary: Before getting on a boat to Menagerie, Blake returns to the ruins of Beacon Academy only to find something she didn't expect.  Takes place directly after the Volume Three finale.





	Amongst Remnants

# Amongst Remnants

A sigh escaped Blake’s lips as she once again questioned her reasons for returning to the crumbling site of where the end had truly begun: a fallen Beacon. She carefully picked her way through cracked timber beams and burnt out husks of classrooms while the oppressive silence of the entire campus bore down on her like a heavy fog. Of course this was far from the first time the former White Fang operative had seen the remains of a battlefield, but things were far from the same when the battlefield was someplace she had once called home, had once been a place of new beginnings, new friendships, and real, genuine hope for the future. Now it lay here rotting, destroyed by Cinder and Adam, and all but abandoned by Vale’s government once the remaining Grimm had been killed or driven off. In other words, Beacon was dead.

Blake sighed again. She didn’t have time for this kind of sentimentality, the boat that would take her back to Menagerie left in two days and there were still a dozen things on her list that needed doing. She had accounts to empty, hidden caches to secure, contacts to meet, and complicating it all was the need to do so while maintaining a low profile. Discretion takes time after all and Adam could have still been in the area. Yet despite all these worries, her feet kept dragging her deeper into the ruined academy, towards one of the few places in Remnant that she had ever felt truly safe.

Team RWBY’s dorm room hadn’t suffered as poorly as some of the other areas on campus, but that wasn’t to say it was anywhere near intact. Most of the room had suffered serious fire damage and what had once been their window was now nothing more than a gaping hole that looked to be the work of some exploded munition, though from which side the shot came from was now impossible to truly tell. The ropes holding Ruby’s bed up had burned entirely, leaving her cozy little bunk in a charred heap on top of Weiss’ which was now little more than a pile of ashes. Blake and Yang’s side of the room hadn’t fared any better with both of their beds now toppled and scorched. Seeing this place, this _home_ in such a state hurt almost as much as Adam’s sword in her gut, a wound only now starting to mend.

Flesh can heal, but this? It seems that only memories can survive such terrible destruction. And there they were, memories of Ruby’s smile as she pulled a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven, offering the first one to Nora who had just been passing by. Memories of Weiss frantically trying to justify the concept of bunk beds to her thoroughly bemused older sister. And memories of … memories of Yang who had been a constant companion since that first mission in the forest. Memories of fights and antics and adventures and a single night spent together on the roof of their dorm just watching the stars in silence. Memories of…

Blake shook her head furiously. Now was not the time for feelings. The White Fang was likely still active in the area and she needed to get out of the kingdom as soon as possible. With a whole world’s full of unknowns Menagerie was certain. Menagerie was safe.

As the young Huntress turned to leave she caught a small gleam out of the corner of her eye which immediately got her attention. Her time in the White Fang had taught her to identify and attend to every detail as anything that seemed out of place most likely was and could harbor unknown dangers. As she got closer the gleam in question appeared to be some kind of metal box buried in the ashes of what had once been Yang’s desk. Upon closer examination, Blake discovered a painting of a bright, yellow flame on the outside, now smudged with soot and ash. After a moment of hesitation her curiosity overcame her guilt for looking through something that obviously belonged to her partner; she opened it up, only to find a seemingly untouched scroll within. Even stranger, the name ‘Blake’ had clearly been written in Yang’s messy handwriting on the back.

Now more curious than ever, Blake powered up the device and searched through it, looking for any information as to why her partner had left this for her. All she found was a single recorded video. With only one way to truly sate her curiosity, she hit play.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Yang turned towards the camera with a nervous smile on her face, a rare occurrence for someone as unabashedly reckless as she. The blonde Huntress had spent most of the previous night trying to come up with some planned statement for what she was going to say for this, but now that the scroll’s camera was actually pointed towards her, it all seemed somehow insufficient. Better just wing it.

“Hi, my names Yang Xiao-Long, and if you’re watching this then I guess I’m dead or missing or…something. I heard that a lot of Huntresses make these last message thingies so I guess this is mine. To whoever finds this, I need you to get this to someone for me. Dad, Ruby if you’re watching this, you already know that I love you both so much, and that wherever I am, I’m still thinking about you. But the rest of this video is for Blake.” She paused, smiling ruefully. “Blake Belladonna I mean. She’s my partner here at Beacon Academy. Umm, she has dark hair, about this tall, has these cute as fuck cat ears, and would commit cold-blooded murder for some good tea. This video is for her, and if you can, please make sure she gets it.

“Hey Blakey! It’s me. If you’re getting this, then I’m…well, you know. Ruby’s mom, Summer, left one of these for us and I thought it might be a good idea to make. You watching this also means I never really got to tell you some things, some really important things, and I guess well…” Yang laughed nervously sliding shaky fingers through her hair. “Crap, I really should have stuck to the script for this! It’s super hard to say all this stuff, and you’re not even here for God’s sake! Well, I guess it’s too late now, Dad didn’t raise a quitter.

“What I’m trying to tell you, what I never had the courage to say before is that you mean so much to me. So much more than just a friend, or a teammate, or even a partner. Screw it, I think I love you. I don’t know why that’s so hard for me to say, but it’s true. It may be the truest thing I’ve ever said. And I don’t know if you even like girls or not, and now that I’m gone then I guess none of this matters anyways, but I still wanted you to know the truth. You deserve that much. Whenever you’re beside me I feel like I’m so much more than just myself, like I’m bigger and stronger than I really am. Even just thinking about you makes me feel so warm inside. And not like angry, red eyes mode warm, like curling up in front of a fire with a blanket warm. Like happy and safe warm. Like _home._

“And now I guess that I’m gone and I never told you any of this, but never for lack of wanting to. I don’t even know if you’re going to remember this, but that one night we spent on the roof together, just the two of us and the moon and the fireflies and those damn cicadas; there was so much I wanted to say that night, so much I never had the guts to, and I guess I’ll have to live with that regret. But all that aside, I want you to know that it was still one of the happiest nights of my life.

“But here we are I suppose. Now that I can’t be there to fight next to you, all I can say is to keep going; keep fighting. I know you can and I know you will, because you are the strongest, most passionate woman I have ever known and because I love you. I love you Blake Belladonna so much it hurts. Just know that from now on, you won’t ever have to fight alone, because even if you can’t see me, I will still be there with you. So get back up, pack your bag, and get going. I’ll meet you there.”

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Tears flowed openly down Blake’s face as she stared at the now silent scroll. “Oh Yang,” she whispered. For a few moments all that Blake wanted was to go to her partner and forget all about the boat and Menagerie and the mere idea of ever running away, but Adam’s shadow still loomed all around her. Watching him hurt Yang was one of the most painful moments she had ever experienced, made a hundred times worse by the fact that she believed that it was all her fault. Staying anywhere near her partner ensured that Adam would keep his word and kill everyone that she loved. And that thought was more unbearable than running away.

Yang’s scroll weighed heavily in Blake’s pocket as she boarded the ship bound for Menagerie. Blake was done crying; all that remained was a bitter, desperate determination. As the Vale docks faded into the distance, the young Huntress looked back one final time. “I’ll find you someday, Yang, and I promise I won’t ever run away again.”


End file.
